Stormy weather will continue to create very dangerous avalanche conditions.
Avoid avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow or wind.
Continued precipitation, combined with strong wind, will keep developing fresh and touchy storm / wind slabs. Expect these slabs to be most reactive on lee slopes.
Poor visibility restricted field observations, but two natural wind slab avalanches (size 2) were observed on north-facing terrain at treeline near Kakwa. Numerous signs of instability were observed, such as cracking on small convex rolls and sluffing on steep terrain at lower elevations.
Looking forward, natural avalanche activity is expected as new snow accumulates and the wind picks up over the coming days.
On Wednesday, another 20 to 40 cm of snow had fallen, bringing the totals to 30 to 60 cm since Monday. This overlies old settling snow in wind-sheltered terrain, hard wind-affected snow in open areas, and/or a solid melt-freeze crust in wind-exposed terrain near ridgetops.
Strong to extreme southwest wind has redistributed this new snow into deeper deposits on lee slopes. The previous wind had stripped the snow in wind-exposed terrain down to the early-February melt-freeze crust.
The remainder of the snowpack is consolidated with no layers of concern.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy. 10 to 25 cm of snow. 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Thursday
Cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow. 70 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Friday
Cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Saturday
A mix of sun and clouds. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
